Warden continues work on well replacement
Administrator hopes to see water pumping by end of year
WARDEN — By the end of the year, residents in the city of Warden will see some new drinking water pumping into their homes and businesses.
After funding of more than $2 million was provided to the city last year, a new well and pump have been on track to improve the quality of water for residents in the city limits.
"We're still working on it," City Administrator Mike Thompson said. "And trying to get it in just as soon as we can."
The 862-foot-deep Well 7 itself has been drilled and encased, and the city council is expected to award bids on the well's pump next month. In addition to installing the pump, the city must also add an additional 1,200-feet of main line to move water from the well to the city's reservoirs.
Thompson hopes the city will start pumping in the new well by the end of the year. It could take as long as five months for the well pump to arrive in the city, Thompson said.
City officials initially began looking into installing a new well after traces of ethylene dibromide started to show up in city wells 4 and 5 a few years ago. Thompson said that's what pushed the city to get that new well in place.
The chemical, a fumigant formerly used in potato and wheat crops, didn't pose a problem for well 4 which wasn't being used. But the city did, and continues to use, well 5 and checks the levels of the chemical in that well every month.
The state Department of Ecology will soon be installing monitoring wells, smaller diameter wells that allow water samples to be taken, to try and determine where the chemical is coming from.
"They're trying to pinpoint where that chemical is coming from, and we'll try to see if we can't seal it off," Thompson said.
The new well 7 will be on the opposite side of Warden, away from where the ethylene dibromide was found.
Thompson said state grant and loan funding helped complete the design and engineering work. Construction money for the project was provided with $1 million from a Community Development Block Grant and a $1 million state proviso from the state Legislature. The funding went not only to the drilling of a new well, but to also work on all three of the city's wells.
The project's total price tag on all that work, $2.3 million, the majority from grant and state funds. Thompson said the last portion of funding for the project came from the state public works trust fund. The grant funding will allow the project to have no impact on water rates for city customers, Thompson said.
Mayor Roldan Capetillo and council members, along with local state legislators, aided in securing funding for the project with meetings in Olympia, Thompson said.
When the project is complete, the city's well pumping capacity will increase by 1,600 gallons per minute to 4,250 gallons per minute. Residents may not notice a change in their water, but Thompson said the quality will be better, as will the pumping capacity in order to accommodate growth.
"We will have more pumping capacity, so we will have more water for future growth, if you can talk Microsoft or somebody into coming to Warden," Thompson said with a chuckle.
The city's wells pump to two reservoirs, which hold approximately 2.3 million gallons of water and distribute water to all residents within the city limits. Thompson said the city tries to keep its water levels fairly high, with two processing plants in town and the need for excess water in the event of an emergency. And this new well will help keep water in those reservoirs, he said.
"We'd like to have it done a year ago," Thompson said of the new well. "It just takes time with having to get approvals from ecology and health … but the sooner we can get it done the better."